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WATERBURY -- Nelly Robinson remembers watching as two men chased her son through a parking lot in front of her home. She remembers how her son called for her on that January night in 2010. She also remembers the gunshots that ended his life.

Robinson testified Monday in Waterbury Superior Court that she watched from a second-story window in her Manhan Street home as her son, 17-year-old John "Jon Jon" Frazier, ran for his life.

"They were chasing him," Robinson said. "I just heard him yelling. He was saying ma...ma...ma."

As Robinson testified, Anthony Collymore, whom police identified as one of Frazier's assailants, watched intently from a nearby table as his trial on felony murder and robbery charges began Monday. If he's found guilty, he faces up to life in prison.

The boy, who was an athlete and aspiring electrician, appeared to have been targeted for a random street robbery while he was walking home in the Diamond Court housing complex after attending a birthday party in his honor. Frazier had turned 17 on the day of his death.

He was trying to get home to make his mother's 10 p.m. curfew when authorities claim Collymore, 27, and Vance Wilson, 30, attacked him after climbing out of a car that contained a third man, Rayshaun Bugg, who has already pleaded guilty to his role in the slaying.

Wilson and Collymore fired at Frazier after he pushed aside one of their gun barrels and ran for his mother's door, according to court documents. The boy died from a shot to the back. Collymore was one of three people arrested in 2011 after Bugg told authorities he was in the complex that night.

Robinson, a soft-spoken woman, testified that she was "confused, sad...broken" after her son's killing.

In surprise testimony Monday, Frazier's brother, George Christopher Frazier, identified Collymore as being one of the shooters who was in the parking lot the night of the killing.

"The man who is standing in front of me, I recognize his face," George Frazier said of Collymore, who showed little reaction to the statement.

George Frazier, 18, hadn't identified Collymore to police during their investigation in 2010, nor had he let prosecutors know that he recognized Collymore as one of the shooters. He testified he heard his brother yell, then heard gunshots and opened his front door to see his brother on the ground outside, reaching to get inside.

Collymore's attorney, Don O'Brien, pointed out that George Frazier had initially told police the gunshots seemed to be coming from a white car. He never identified Collymore until Monday, O'Brien pointed out, and his testimony was inconsistent as to where the shooters were standing when the guns fired.

George Frazier, who admitted to having brain surgery to remove a tumor after his brother's slaying, said he "didn't recall" in response to many of O'Brien's questions about his statement to police.

At a court hearing following their arrests, Bugg, who is serving a 25-year sentence in connection with the killing, said Wilson was packing a .357-caliber revolver and told police that Collymore was carrying a .38-caliber revolver. Police suspect both men shot at Frazier, but it's unclear who fired the fatal shot.

Prosecutors can charge a defendant with felony murder if they can show the victim was killed while the defendant was committing a felony, such as a robbery.

Vance pleaded guilty to felony murder last year, but has yet to be sentenced. Testimony in the case is expected to continue today.

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trav c wrote on Feb 5, 2013 7:17 AM:

" John john lived next door to me, cool respectable kid.....praying for justice and peace.... "

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